Without Electricity- A Blessing or a Curse?

Tiger has been studying Latin and South America and in preparation for a large project, one in which the students will create an entrepreneurial endeavor and then donate money to a Latin American charity of their choosing, he had a school assignment. He had to live without for 12 hours. He got to choose food, running water, electricity, shoes, or indoor plumbing and had to do without for 12 hours. If it had been me, I probably would have chosen shoes- truthfully most days I go without shoes all day and it would have been easy. That said, I am proud of Tiger that he doesn’t just choose the easy assignments. He chooses the ones that inspire him because he truly loves learning. This assignment was a tough one for him to choose though. He REALLY wanted to watch a movie after the girls went to bed. He thought about doing clean water. Thanks to a big wind storm, the electric company not realizing we were out of power, and the right day, Tiger had his project chosen for him this time. He got to live without power for 12 hours. During that time, he even got to make dinner without power. Granted, we have a gas stove, so cooking meals isn’t too different, but the waning light does pose a challenge for preparing the meal! About 8 hours in, B and I decided that we would just keep the power off after kids went to bed if the lights came on before they were in bed. The lights did come on just as they were headed to bed. Oops, lights back out and we finished our night in darkness. 
In answer to his assignment, this was his feedback to the questions posed:
Q What did you go without today?  1. I went without electricity on Saturday, because our power was out most of the day and the assignment seemed to happen by coincidence.
Q: How did it make you feel inside? Was it difficult at times?  2. It made me feel kind of peaceful eating dinner by candlelight. However,  it was also very frustrating because I really wanted to watch Pirates of The Carribean:On Stranger Tides after my younger sisters had gone to bed and now it has to go back to the library, which is very annoying. I never got to watch it :(
Q: Do you feel more compassion for people in difficult circumstances?3. YES. I definitely felt more of the pain of which some people consider everyday life, living in poverty.
Q: How would you feel if you had to go without these things every day?  4. I really appreciate that I have vital things, such as food and clean water. I never really thought about people who did not have such things before.
Q: Do you appreciate the things you have more now that you see not everyone has them? 5. It would feel really horrible having to go through this all day, every day. My sister really likes going without power for some reason and says we should do this once a month. I totally disagree and want to be able to have electricity all the time.
 
As for me, I enjoy the occasional night without power. It is peaceful and quiet. I like that the kids gather and we could share a read aloud and have a quiet dinner with no one running off to play or disappear. I like that outside there seemed to be less hustle. B wants to make it a monthly event. We just might make it a monthly event in our home. :) It probably won’t work well in the summer since it doesn’t get dark until 10 but for the winter it sure is nice.